


Bound

by triste



Category: No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-27
Updated: 2011-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-21 19:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triste/pseuds/triste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're the only one who needed proof."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bound

Title: Bound  
Author: Triste  
Fandom: No. 6  
Pairing: Nezumi/Shion  
Rating: PG  
Status: Complete  
Disclaimer: Not mine

~~

They’re in the middle of eating dinner together. It’s a quiet, peaceful end to a busy and tiring day. Nothing is different or out of the ordinary, at least until Shion opens his mouth.

“Let’s get married,” he blurts out.

If they were characters in a book, this would be the moment where Nezumi sweeps him off his feet. It would be terribly romantic, and the sun would set prettily in the background while they kiss.

The reality, of course, is nowhere near as wonderful. The way Nezumi snorts soup out of his nose is far from swoon worthy, and it takes a few seconds of coughing before he can manage a response.

“Are you drunk?” he demands, wiping his face with the handkerchief Shion passes him. “No, wait. Have you finally cracked up? Or is this some sort of weird secret code for ‘our lives are in danger, run like hell’?”

“I’m perfectly sane, thank you very much,” Shion sniffs. “And, for your information, there wasn’t any hidden meaning. I just felt like saying it.”

He’s never really given much thought to the idea of marriage before. His parents are divorced, after all. But for some reason, he’s been contemplating it lot lately. Maybe it’s because of the books he’s been reading, or maybe because it’s his first time experiencing such intimacy. Marriage is supposed to be something special, something sacred almost.

It makes Shion wonder if it’s really true.

“Even if you were serious,” Nezumi says, his voice still a bit nasally from his earlier chocking fit, “which I hope you weren’t, it’s–”

“Impossible,” Shion finishes for him, smiling gently. “I know. It’s not like we could ever get registered. On top of that, we’re a pair of wanted criminals. And besides, we’re both guys. There’s just no way. But still,” he adds, shrugging his shoulders, “it might be kind of nice if we could. Don’t you think?”

He waits for Nezumi to start telling him that he’s naïve, that he’s an idiot, that he needs to stop spouting such nonsense, but he doesn’t.

“I don’t even have any words,” Nezumi confesses. He looks vaguely amazed at Shion’s ability to leave him speechless. “I’ve always known you were an airhead, but this is something else.”

“Yeah,” Shion agrees, turning his attention back to his meal. “Forget about it, okay?”

They don’t speak again after that, not until Shion is finished cleaning up. Nezumi tosses him a towel, and watches as Shion dries his hands with it.

“Those books are having a bad influence on you,” he states.

“And whose fault is that?” Shion retorts. “You’re the one who told me to read more in order to expand my vocabulary because, as you yourself put it, I am ‘less linguistically competent than a chimpanzee’.”

“Whatever. That’s not the point. You’ve been reading a lot, right? Not just tragedies cheesy fairy tails. You should have come across themes like fate and reincarnation by now.”

“Of course. They aren’t very scientific, but yes.”

“Not everything in this world can be explained by science.” Nezumi pauses. “Do you believe in them?”

Shion isn’t sure, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to deny them outright. “Honestly?” he says. “It sounds too good to be true.”

Nezumi laughs. He seems pleased by Shion’s answer. “You’re getting wiser. That’s good. It’s about time you toughened up a little. Who knows? Maybe we’ll meet again in another life. I might be reborn as a princess with massive tits, and you’ll be weedy prince who comes to court me. Or maybe you’ll be the princess, and I’ll be the thief who steals your heart along with your fortune.”

“Now who’s being cheesy?”

“Well,” Nezumi continues, waving him off, “nobody knows for certain what happens to people after they die. That’s how a lot of them manage to get by. ‘Even if my current life sucks, the next one is sure to be better.’ It doesn’t hurt to think like that. It won’t do any good, but if it helps to makes a crappy situation more tolerable, then sure, why not.”

But he doesn’t believe it himself. He may not say it, but Shion can tell. He isn’t sure how. He just knows. Nezumi is a fighter. He’s cynical, sceptical, untrusting of everyone and everything. He’s not a dreamer like Shion. His feet are planted all too firmly in the real world.

“There’s no such thing as happy ever after. You can fool yourself all you want, but it won’t make the bad things go away. There’s no fairy godmother to wave a magic wand and put them right. Only you can do that.”

“Because if people don’t adapt and survive, they might as well just die,” Shion parrots obediently.

“That’s right.” Nezumi grins. “And the weaklings can be reborn as barnacles or water fleas. Only the strongest deserve to spend their next lives as a happier one.”

It’s not very fair, but Shion has come to learn that life rarely is.

“Oh!” he says, suddenly remembering. “The other day when I was trying to organise the bookshelves better, I found a sewing kit.” He hurries off to fetch it, and there’s one particular spool that makes him beam. “See? Red thread.” He snaps a small piece off, tying one end of it around the ring finger of his left hand and attaching the other to Nezumi’s. “Now we’re bound to each other.”

“We always have been, idiot,” Nezumi says, tousling Shion’s hair with the hand that isn’t connected by the string. “You’re the only one who needed proof.”

 

End.


End file.
